Teraupo'o

Teraupo'o (c. 1855 – 23 December 1918) was a Tahitian (Maohi)[note 1] resistance leader of the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa who fought off French rule from 1887 to 1897 during the decade-long Leeward Islands War.

Teraupo'o
Teraupo'o and his family on Raiatea, c. 1895
Born
Hapaitahaa a Etau

c. 1855
Avera, Raiatea
Died23 December 1918
Vaiaau, Raiatea
Known forResisted French rule from 1887 to 1897 during the decade-long Leeward Islands War

Born during the decades following the Franco-Tahitian War (1844–1847), Teraupo'o was a lesser chief from the village of Avera, on the east coast of Raiatea. He grew to resent the French after being mistreated by an officer. After King Tamatoa VI of Raiatea submitted to French annexation, Teraupo'o refused to surrender and led the native resistance against the French and installed a resistance government under Tuarii as queen at Avera. He and his followers, dubbed the Teraupiste, included a majority of the natives of Raiatea and Tahaa. They fought off French colonial rule from 1887 until 1897 while attempting to convince the British to support their cause to remain independent.

The French under Governor Gustave Gallet sent for reinforcement to quell the native resistance and defeated the native forces of Raiatea in battle and the subsequent guerilla campaign that followed. Teraupo'o was captured on the night of 15–16 February 1897. After he was defeated and captured, he was exiled to New Caledonia until 1905 when he was allowed to return to Raiatea. He lived out the rest of his life as a recluse and died in 1918 of the Spanish flu epidemic.

Early life

He was born in c. 1855 with the name Hapaitahaa a Etau, at Avera, a village on the east coast of the island of Raiatea in the Leeward Islands, a part of the larger Society Islands group. He also initially bore the name Taraiupo'o, meaning "Headhunter", while his later adopted name Teraupo'o, meaning "This Head" in the Tahitian language.[2][3][4][note 2] Teraupo'o was considered a "chief of a minor lineage".[6]

The Society Islands were evangelized by British missionaries and converted to Protestant Christianity by the London Missionary Society (LMS) in the early 19th century. The ari'i rahi (supreme rulers) were early patrons of the British Protestants.[7] By the mid-19th century, the adoption of a British parliamentary system of government eroded the traditional supremacy of the ari'i rahi in favor of the ra'atira (freemen) class. Local chiefs and tāvana (district governors) gain greater power and autonomy at the expense of the nominal island monarchs especially in Raiatea-Tahaa.[8][9][10] A decade before Teraupo'o's birth, the neighboring Kingdom of Tahiti had been subjugated under a protectorate in the Franco-Tahitian War (1844–1847) but the kingdoms of the Leeward Islands including Raiatea-Tahaa were ensured independence by France and Great Britain under the Jarnac Convention or the Anglo-French Convention of 1847.[11][12][13]

According to French historian Auguste Charles Eugène Caillot, Teraupo'o grew to resent the French after he was kicked by a French captain or pilot in Raiatea.[14][15] He allegedly received a kick from the officer in “dans la partie la moins noble de son individu" (the least noble part of his person).[16]

French annexation

In 1880, King Tahitoe of Raiatea accepted the provisional protectorate by French commissioner Isidore Chessé. Tahitoe was deposed by his subjects for requesting the protectorate and his daughter and successor Queen Tehauroa unsuccessfully attempted to enlist the protection of the British to preserve the independence of Raiatea in accordance with the Convention of 1847.[17][18] On 16 March 1888, the French annexed Raiatea and Tahaa after formal negotiation between Great Britain and France abrogated the 1847 Convention.[19][20]

The last independent monarch of Raiatea-Tahaa, King Tamatoa VI was originally from the royal family of Huahine.[20][21] On 25 September 1887, five chiefs of Raiatea petitioned Papeete to send a French resident administrator. Teraupo'o refused to comply with the order of King Tamatoa VI to surrender to the French, and he built up a resistance force in 1887.[22][23][24] Two French warships and government schooner was landed in Raiatea to override the ruling of the native courts to the advantage of a few European residents disgruntled with the recent economic depression of the copra and cotton trade. This action resulted in greater resentment within the rank of the anti-French faction of the population. LMS missionary William Edward Richards wrote that Tamatoa "abdicated rather than become the tool of the native French party" and "One or two villages [were] shelled and a great many native houses burnt down" by the French...and this made the Raiateans still more ‘resolute’ not to ‘yield quietly’ as the missionary advised".[23] Tamatoa VI returned to Huahine to become a tāvana (district governor) and left the government of Raiatea without a king.[20][21]

War of resistance
Indigenous officers holding the independent flag of Raiatea at Avera, c. 1895

Richards wrote in 1888 that "the whole of the Raiatean Government (save one governor Teraupoo) were enrolled as Frenchmen and nearly the whole of the people banded together as one man to resist them."[25] Teraupo'o led the native resistance against the French in the place of Tamatoa VI. He installed a resistance government under Tuarii (a younger daughter of Tahitoe) as queen at Avera. The French established themselves at the former capital of Uturoa and appointed a résident, Marie Maximilien Gustave Alby, and had the support of Tahaa chief Tavana who became known as the viceroy of Raiatea-Tahaa. A prolonged war prevented the French from entering the rural areas of Raiatea as the native resorted to guerilla warfare.[20][26] The conflict leading to the annexation of the Leeward Islands became known as the Leewards War, the Raiatean rebellion or the Teraupo’o War.[27][28][29]

Bearing his rifle, the "'oporo 'ute'ute" or "red pepper",[30] Teraupo'o was able to muster a force of 800 men or nearly one third of the population of the island although Newbury noted that "hardly more than 359 Ra'iateans [were] under arms".[3][31] The followers of the rebel chief were referred to as the Teraupiste.[32] Teraupo'o's brother Hupe served as his généralissime or general-in-chief. The courageous chiefess Mai of Tevaitoa and her husband Moti Roi and the chief Faterehau of Opoa and his wife, a half-white woman, named Taupe allied themselves with the Teraupiste.[33][34] Foreign residents were also attracted to his cause. Jose Jordan, son of American settler and blacksmith Joseph Jordan, was a partisan of Teraupo'o, and was exiled for his involvement. The German G. Neuffer became an adopted son of Teraupo'o and supplied him with arms and funds.[35][15]

From the few surviving letters of Teraupo'o, he was known to have been resolute in the belief that Great Britain would intervene on the behalf of their cause and rescue the natives from the French.[25] The Raiateans unsuccessfully appealed to Robert Teesdale Simons, the British Consul in Tahiti, for assistance and offered their country to the "Great White Queen".[29][36] In 1895, Queen Tuarii traveled to the British protectorate Rarontonga to seek help from the British Resident Frederick Moss who refused to meet with her.[20]

Attempts were made to mediate the conflict by Consul Simons and Tati Salmon, an Anglo-Tahitian businessman of royal descent. The French Protestant missionary Jean-Frédéric Vernier, former chaplain of Tahiti's Queen Pōmare IV, also unsuccessfully attempted to sway the natives.[37][38] Teraupo'o also controlled the Raiatean pastors. French Protestant missionary Pastor Gaston Brunel, who took charge of the Protestant schools on the island in 1894 and was largely sympathetic to the natives, visited the camp of the resistance leader often and gain valuable insight into the rebellion.[33][39] French artist Paul Gauguin, who witnessed the final phase of the rebellion, noted that diplomacy failed to persuade the natives of Raiatea to surrender.[40] Gauguin also witnessed the 1896 expedition to Raiatea.[41]

Teraupo'o with his family, c. 1895

The French appointed Governor Gustave Gallet to suppress the entrenched rebellion. Gallet had previous experience with suppressing the 1878 Kanak rebellion in New Caledonia. In 1896, two French warships, the Duguay Trouin and L'Aube arrived from New Caledonia with two hundred French soldiers to quell the native resistance. The invasion force was further reinforced with a company of Tahitian volunteers. On 27 December 1896, Governor Gallet attempted to parley with the rebels to avoid bloodshed. He set an ultimatum for the rebels to surrender by 1 January 1897. The rebel government at Avera under Queen Tuarii and 1700 rebels reluctantly surrendered. Teraupo'o and the rebels of Tahaa and the district of Tevaitoa refused the call, prompting the French to land and engage the remaining armed natives. The French routed the underequipped and disorganized native forces and many fled into the mountains to escape capture.[42][43]

The armed native resistance ended with the capture of Teraupo'o. He and his wife and daughter fled into the mountains of Vaiaau. They evaded the French expeditionary force by hiding in the cave in the Faneuhi mountain (located at 16°51′8″S 151°26′32″W) and rolling a boulder in front of the entrance during the day. The hiding place was discovered on the night of 15 February and 16 February 1897 when light from a fire within the cave gave the location away. On orders to capture him alive, Teraupo'o was led out of the cave by gunpoint while his family remained defiant.[2][44][45][46] French historian Bruno Saura credited the discovery to "two Polynesians in the service of the French" while American historian Edward Dodd credited to an "astute French lieutenant".[2][45][46] The casualties of the six-week campaign were nearly fifty deaths mainly on the side of the Raiateans.[2]

Exile and death
The pa or the military camp of Teraupo'o, 1897

After the capture of Teraupo'o, the Chamber of Deputies in Paris proclaimed "the victorious end of the last military campaign in our islands". The Chamber ratified annexation on 19 November 1897.[47][45] The captured resistance leaders were deported to Nouméa, New Caledonia and their followers were deported to the Ua Huka in the Marquesas Islands while others were conscripted as forced laborers to improve the roads of Raiatea.[19][48][35] Teraupo'o, his wife and his brother Hupe were exiled in New Caledonia until 1905.[33][34][49]

Teraupo'o was allowed to return to Raiatea in 1905 and lived out the rest of his life as a "silent, unreconstructed recluse".[45] He died at Vaiaau on 23 December 1918, at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic. His grave is currently located at Pamatai point (located at 16°49′9″S 151°28′56″W) under a road. The next indigenous leader to advocate French resistance and Tahitian separatism was Pouvanaa a Oopa in 1958.[4][50]

Notes
  1. Maohi or Mā’ohi is the Tahitian name for the indigenous Tahitians people of the Society Islands without association with the largest and most populous islands of Tahiti. Other English exonyms exist for the other islands as well including Raiatean for an inhabitant of Raiatea.[1]
  2. According to French historian Bruno Saura: "It was also nearly a century later that his indirect descendants (Teraupoo died in 1918 in Raiatea, without any immediate descendants) began to speak about the taunting they endured in their child they were members of the family of Teraupoo ʻorure hau rebel). It is true that his fairly rare first name and surname—especially Te-rau-upoʻo (the leaf/the greenery of/for the head) lends itself to multiple interpretations. One of his descendants, Teddy Tefaatau, mayor of Tevaitoa at the time, explained that his "great great uncle was called Teraiupoo, coupeur de têtes ['executioner' or 'headsman'—literally, head cutter]. We preferred [to interpret it as] Tera-upoo, 'this head'" Besse 2010."[5]

References
  1. Oliver 1974, p. 6.
  2. Saura 2015, pp. 354–356.
  3. Juster 2016, p. 67.
  4. Gué, Julien (16 October 2014). "The first Polynesian separatist". Tahiti, ses îles et autres bouts du monde. Translated by Monak. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  5. Saura 2015, p. 355.
  6. Newbury 1967, pp. 20.
  7. Garrett 1982, pp. 14–31.
  8. Newbury 1967, pp. 17–21.
  9. Newbury 1956, pp. 393–420.
  10. Newbury 2009, p. 160.
  11. Matsuda 2005, pp. 91–112.
  12. Newbury 1973, pp. 5–27.
  13. Gonschor 2008, pp. 32–39, 42–51.
  14. O'Reilly & Teissier 1962, p. 450.
  15. Newbury 1980, p. 212.
  16. Caillot 1909, p. 280.
  17. McArthur 1967, p. 270.
  18. Lovett 1899, pp. 349–350.
  19. Layton 2015, pp. 177–178.
  20. Gonschor 2008, pp. 47–51.
  21. Teissier 1978, pp. 110–113.
  22. Juster 2016, pp. 67–68.
  23. McArthur 1967, p. 274–275.
  24. Newbury 1956, pp. 270–271.
  25. Dodd 1983, p. 234.
  26. Chesneau 1928, pp. 93–94; Caillot 1910, p. 326; Jaulmes 1970, p. 72
  27. Matsuda 2005, p. 98.
  28. Craig 2010, pp. xxi, 274.
  29. Hall & Osborne 1901, pp. 54–55.
  30. Baré 1984, p. 41.
  31. Newbury 1980, p. 211.
  32. Huguenin 1902, p. 100.
  33. Newbury 1980, pp. 210–212.
  34. Caillot 1910, pp. 328–330.
  35. Flude 2012, p. 119.
  36. Pallander 1901, pp. 137–143.
  37. Dodd 1983, pp. 226–227.
  38. Garrett 1982, p. 258.
  39. Garrett 1992, pp. 241–245.
  40. Gleizal, Christian. "L'annexion des Îles Sous-le-Vent vue par Gauguin". Histoire de l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française (in French). Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  41. Newbury 1980, pp. 210.
  42. Gleizal, Christian. "Evènements de Raiatea et arrestation de Teraupo". Histoire de l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française (in French). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  43. Huguenin 1902, pp. 209–210.
  44. Caillot 1910, pp. 325–330.
  45. Dodd 1983, p. 231.
  46. Gleizal, Christian. "Personnages remarquables: Tahitiens: TERAUPO (vers 1855-vers 1910)". Histoire de l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française (in French). Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  47. Matsuda 2005, p. 102.
  48. Kirk 2012, p. 157.
  49. "The French At Raiatea. The War Ended". Auckland Star. XXVIII (61). Auckland. 15 March 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  50. "Teraupoo, le rebelle de Raiatea". Tahiti Heritage (in French). Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.

Bibliography
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